Are you looking for productive things to do but want to stay comfy in your PJs at the same time?
That’s literally the story of my life. Blogging is one of those amazing jobs you can do from home – a place where society cannot subject you to the oppressive grasp of non-stretchy pants.
Sometimes I spend half the week in my pyjamas. I wish I were exaggerating.
But I’m definitely not just sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I am constantly looking for productive things to do and have become something of an expert at getting shizz done while looking like a total slob.
And because I know how fun that can be, I’ve decided to share all my secrets with you in the form of a list of no less than one hundred productive things to do in your PJs. Somebody’s got to, right?
Without further ado, let’s get started. And remember – being productive is about more than constantly doing something. Loving yourself and investing in your wellbeing is productive as well, possibly even more so.
Productive things to do in your PJs
Learn a new language. Let’s start off on an ambitious note. Will you learn a foreign language in one afternoon? Of course not. But you can learn a few small talk phrases to get you started or expand your vocabulary. Not sure where to get started? I’ve written a whole post on how to learn a foreign language without leaving your bed!
Watch a TED talk. TED talks are amazing, easily digestible nuggets of wisdom. In just 15 minutes you can get new thought-provoking ideas and transform your entire day from meh to super inspired. I even put together a list of the best TED talks about travel, so check that out.
Tidy your laptop. I may be the most disorganised laptop owner ever. I don’t have one of those crazy cluttered desktops with seven thousand icons layered over one another, but I’m guilty of pretty much all the other organisation sins. Nothing feels better than spending an hour sorting everything into folders and backing the whole mess up. Seriously.
Look for cheap flights. Check Skyscanner and Momondo. Set up some alerts.
Start a blog. Starting a blog is not for everyone, but if it sounds like the kind of thing that might interest you give it a try. Here’s my guide to getting started.
Create an inspiration board. Visualising your goals and aspirations is not
Get inspired on Pinterest. I’ve recently started falling in love with Pinterest again – I can’t imagine decorating my new flat in Glasgow without it! Whether you’re looking for new DIYs, interior design inspiration or travel porn it’s all there. As am I, so feel free to follow me.
Recycle. On average, a person produces 4.4 pounds of waste each day. This adds up to almost a tonne of trash per person every year! It costs about $30 to recycle a tonne trash, $50 to send it to the landfill and $65-75 to incinerate it. You know what to do.
Look up new recipes. You can never be overdressed or overeducated… or know too many recipes. Instagram is my favourite place for healthy food inspiration and I love BuzzFeed’s Taste Tests.
Put together a meal plan. Writing a meal plan and a shopping list to go with it will save you time, money and make sure you eat healthier. That’s three wins you can easily achieve within 30 minutes! My favourite meal planning resources are The Kitchn and Clean Eating.
Plan your dream trip. If you had $10,000 where would you go? Daydreaming about a luxurious vacation to Hawaii (now you know where I’d go!) may seem unproductive, but this might be a great starting point when planning your next trip further down the line. You may not be able to afford your dream trip, but your uninhibited answer will teach you a lot about the aspects of travel you love most.
Do an online course. You can do online courses in nearly anything these days. Teachable and Udemy offer hundreds, from watercolour painting and Chinese calligraphy to coding or gardening.
Sign up to a new class. You obviously don’t have to do your learning online. Why don’t you use this time to find fun classes in your area and sign up to one that really captures your attention?
Watch YouTube videos. There are literally hundreds of thousands of videos that will teach you something new. From new makeup techniques and creative DIYs to science lessons, pick one and give it a try.
Sort out your mailbox. Fun? Probably not. But it will enable you to stay on top of your emails, which is basically a modern day miracle.
Reply to all your Facebook messages. You know that friend you’ve been meaning to respond to for months? Respond to them.
Update your CV. You never know when a fantastic opportunity might come along and it’s always better to be prepared.
Find a volunteering gig. Volunteering is good for the people it helps, but it’s also beneficial to those who do the helping. It will give you a good perspective and definitely make your life feel more fulfilling.
Record a new voicemail greeting. I don’t know about you but having a proper voicemail greeting makes me feel like I’m much better at this whole adulting thing.
Read a book. I’m the worst book renegade ever. Honestly – the amount of books I’ve bought, read a few chapters of and then completely abandoned is abominable. But I’ve made it my goal to finish reading ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ by Audrey Niffenegger this month and break the cycle. Which book would you like to read? Let me know in the comments below!
Sign up as a tour guide. Showing people around your city could be a great way to get to know other travellers and make some extra money. Sounds interesting? Read my post about Trip4Real and how you can get involved.
Update your bucket list. Our dreams change over the course of our lives. My old bucket list – which I wrote just two years ago – includes things like going to a full moon party in Thailand. And while I’d still go given the chance, it’s not something I particularly care about at the moment. Update your bucket list and you might just surprise yourself.
Take a nap. Napping is healthy and just a quick 30 minute snooze will fill you with tonnes of energy.
Meditate. Meditation is often written off as a waste of time in this day and age. I don’t have enough hours in the day to reply to all the emails sitting in my inbox, so how could I possibly spend one of those hours sitting down doing absolutely nothing? It may sound unproductive yet it’s definitely one of the most productive things to do – not just on this list but ever.
Upcycle or spray paint something. Spray painting is my new obsession, because it’s fast and effective and makes me sound like a DIY pro although I hardly even know what I’m doing half the time.
Buy yourself something nice. It obviously doesn’t have to be a pair of Louboutins or an overpriced crystal vase. A handmade ladybug brooch from Etsy or a bunch of old records from Amazon will do. Spoil yourself.
Organise your bills and paperwork. Nobody else will do it for you.
File your taxes. Same goes. Alternatively, hire an advisor and save yourself a lot of time – and potentially money.
Find new places near you. Whether you consult local bloggers, Google Maps or TripAdvisor you’re bound to find someplace in your town you’ve never even heard of and will totally fall in love with.
Paint an abstract masterpiece. Ok, it doesn’t have to be masterpiece. Just get a large canvas, some acrylic paint and go for it. If nothing else I can guarantee it will feel therapeutic.
Give yourself a mani-pedi. Nail salons can be extremely expensive so why not set aside an hour of your time and have a luxurious pamper session at a fraction of the cost?
Learn a new song for karaoke. I can’t imagine anything cooler than going up on the stage and rapping the whole of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” without looking at the screen.
Find your Myers Briggs personality type. I can’t be the only one who’s obsessed with personality quizzes. But unlike the thousands of tests floating around the internet, the Myers Briggs is backed up by research and tends to be pretty accurate. I’m an ENFP through and through!
Watch a documentary. Many people still think documentaries are boring, but that couldn’t be further from the truth! Yes, they’re informative. But they can also be heart-warming, hilarious, inspiring and thoroughly awesome. My recommendations? Food Inc., Jiro Dreams of Sushi or Religulous.
Get lost on Wikipedia. I’m sure it’s happened to you before – you start with an innocent search for ‘Tahitian vanilla’ and before you know it, you’re up all night reading about serial killers.
Design your five year plan. No, I’m not encouraging you to emulate comrade Stalin. What I have in mind is sitting down and figuring out where you want to be in half a decade – and how you can get there. The clarity you’ll get from this simple exercise make this a very productive thing to do in your free time.
Figure out your season. Are you a spring, summer, autumn or winter? What colours complement your skin? Try it here.
Decorate cupcakes or cookies. Frosting = magic. And how could magic not be productive?
Create a capsule wardrobe. What if you downsized your wardrobe, leaving only a small number of highly versatile pieces that you can easily mix and match? It may sound terrifying at first but think of all the time it would save you! Go on, give it a whirl…
Sort out your photos. Whether they’re piling up in boxes or sitting on hard drives, odds are your photo collection is a bit of a mess. Why not buy a cute photo album or at least sort your files into folders?
Try a Kayla Itsines workout. The Instagram star and her BBG army are leading a powerful fitness movement. You can get a free 7-day trial so why not find out what all the fuss is about?
Reconnect with an old friend. Few things are as heartwarming as getting a message from someone you used to be very close to but somehow drifted apart from. Be that someone!
Read the entire newspaper. You might not be interested in everything in it, but going beyond your usual choice of topics might prove eye-opening.
Re-decorate your bedroom. Your bedroom should be an oasis. So declutter, get a new headboard, change up the colour of your bedding… do whatever you must to make it feel like one.
Call your parents. Or your grandparents. Or your seven aunts. Family is family.
Write a letter to your future self. Fill it with emotions, questions and advice. Then seal it and hide it somewhere.
Dye your hair. How about a cotton candy dip dye or some silver streaks around your face? Go for it! I wouldn’t recommend bleaching your entire head at home – I’ve done it in the past with varying degrees of success, but it really wreaked havoc on my hair. But at the end of the day, it’s just hair and it will grow back eventually.
Have a salt bath. Bubble baths may be fun, but a salt bath has tonnes of health benefits. Some 2,500 years ago Hippocrates encouraged his patients to bathe in warm seawater to improve circulation, detox and provide pain relief. My favourite seawater alternative is dissolving a kilo of Himalayan salt in a bathtub and laying in it for about 20 minutes. NOTE: If you have heart issues, consult a doctor before taking a salt bath.
Try a new hairdo. Do you know how to French braid your hair? How about fishtail braids or chignons? Give it a try – and if you need help, YouTube is your best friend.
Indulge in a guilty pleasure. Mine are watching “The Bachelorette” or “Real Housewives of Anywhere”, and spending too much time online shopping for dresses.
Unsubscribe from newsletters. Your inbox does not need to be hopelessly cluttered forever. Try Unroll.Me for an easy solution!
Wash your makeup brushes. I don’t think anyone does this often enough.
Look for birthday or Christmas gifts. It’s never too soon.
Write a poem. Address it to your significant other, your dog, your postman or the universe.
Learn to put on false eyelashes. I don’t know about you, but that’s a skill that took me a while to master. But now I can do it in a matter of minutes and practicing saved me a lot of time in the long run.
Watch standup comedy. My current favourites are Bo Turnham and Jeff Jeffries, who you should not watch if you hate swearing. How is that productive you ask? I always hope that being around funny people will eventually rub off on me, so there’s that…
Organise your planner. I have a bright fuchsia Filofax which I’ve been neglecting a lot lately – and I can feel it. Using your planner to its full potential will make you a lot more productive!
Watch Netflix. Is watching Netflix anything more than a total waste of time? Possibly not, but you’re going to have to finish last season of “Orange Is The New Black” at some point… and you might as well do it now, when nothing else is standing in your way.
Call your providers. Call everyone from the Internet people to the gas company and ask them if they could offer you a better deal than you currently have. It never hurts to ask and could save you a lot of money in the long run.
Write in your gratitude journal. Don’t have a gratitude journal yet? It’s as simple as taking a little notebook and writing down five things that made you happy at the end of every day.
Plant a herb garden. You don’t need tonnes of seeds and a large house… You can just pop a pot of basil or rosemary on your window sill and call it a day. I can guarantee that fresh herbs will make your meals one thousand percent tastier though!
Write a love letter. You can address it to your partner, your crush, your favourite celebrity or to yourself. It doesn’t matter.
Sign up to OMGYES. Never heard of the website? It’s a place where you can learn more about the elusive female orgasm (and how to achieve it), combining the wisdom of more than 2,000 women aged 18 to 95. Emma Watson is a member, so don’t get all bashful – even Hermione does it.
Get a fake tan. Not everyone is a fan of self-tanner, but if you’re into it why not give yourself that Caribbean glow? My favourite is the St Tropez in shower lotion, which I find much easier to apply than anything else I’ve tried before.
Plan a month off sugar. This is honestly the best thing you can do for yourself!
Embrace aromatherapy. Essential oils can help improve anything from your mood to your digestion. Although they’re widely accessible now this is nothing new – they were used by ancient civilisations like the Romans, Egyptians or the Chinese.
Create a happy playlist. I’m not a fan of monthly subscription, but Spotify is the one thing I can’t imagine going without. I have dozens of playlists to suit any mood – and my happy playlist is a fabulous pick-me-up.
Donate unworn clothes. You know that dress in the back of the closet which you haven’t worn in forty seven months? And all those ill-fitting shirts? If you donate a bag of clothes you’ll get rid of clutter, support a good cause and give your once beloved outfits a new happy home.
Come up with a breakfast ritual. A great day should start with a great breakfast! My current go-tos are either almond yoghurt with banana, honey and granola or açaí bowl with lots of fruit layered on top.
Do yoga. From clearing your mind to stretching your body, yoga can help with a wide array of ailments. If you don’t want to go to a class, feel free to roll out a mat while you’re still in your PJs and go for it. You can watch Yoga with Adriene or sign up to Yogaia for a free 14 day trial.
Feng shui optimise your apartment. Can I confidently say feng shui works? Nope. But the worst thing that could happen is making your flat a prettier place to live in.
Clean your bathroom. Is it glamorous? Not really, although you could do it in high heels and diamante-studded rubber gloves (and PJs). Is it necessary? Always.
Organise your spice cabinet. Check if you have enough cumin or are running low on paprika. Better you do it now than when you’re in the middle of cooking a delicious curry.
Make your own chocolate. Get some raw cacao powder, cacao butter, agave nectar or honey and get cooking! You can decorate with nuts, dried cherries, edible flowers or gold-leaf… Anything goes.
Start saving. Figure out where you’re wasting money – daily coffee, unused gym membership, TV licence etc. – and cut those costs. Those savings can help you become debt-free (thank you, dear university degree) or pay for a trip abroad!
Do something nice for your room mate. Whoever it is you live with, do something that will put a smile on their face. It can be as small as bringing them a cup of tea or cleaning their favourite mug.
Do the laundry. Nobody likes running out of clean underwear halfway through the week.
Find your word of the year. What is the one word you want to define this year? Laughter, enough, bold, friendly… find something that suits you and your goals. Mine is “nice”. It sounds simple but it has a million layers in my head and reminds me to keep going in the right direction. For more info, check out this post on Rosalilium.
Open a dating profile. If you’re single and bored of it, try OK Cupid or Tinder. Why the hell not?
Try a homemade face mask. It can be as simple as putting coconut oil on your face or as complicated as mixing honey and yoghurt and trying not to eat it. And if making a mask at home doesn’t sound appealing, check out the ones from Lush – I’m wearing Cosmetic Warrior in the photo below, which smells awful but works really well!
Write a short story. Who doesn’t love the idea of being a published author? Nobody is expecting you to sit down and write a novel over the course of one evening (if that’s a skill you possess I will feed you pizza until you share your secrets though). But writing a short story or even a short short story is a great exercise in creativity and might make you feel just as proud.
Reorganise your bookshelf. Group by topic or sort by colour if you’re feeling ambitious.
Create a short video and learn editing. Whether you try your hand at vlogging or filming your very own cooking show, improving your video skills is never a waste of time.
Refresh your high school knowledge. Embarrassed by how quickly you’re forgetting everything you learned in school? Re-teach yourself how to derive or learn all the world capitals.
Make a list. Writing a to-do list is always a good idea. It will help you become more focused and accomplish more.
Learn five new words. Learning foreign languages is great, but how about learning new words in your mother tongue? I love Oxford Dictionary’s weird and wonderful words. Wouldn’t you want to know what callipygian means?
Learn to code. Codecademy offers free classes, so take advantage of the amazing opportunity.
Improve your hand lettering. Sure, you learned to write in primary school. But modern calligraphy is making a big comeback and becoming quite popular. And for good reason – with all our typing and tweeting we rarely write things down on paper anymore. Wouldn’t it be fun to go back to the basics and turn your scribbles into swirls?
Create a scrapbook. Much like hand lettering, scrapbooking may sound outdated and like something your Aunt Edna would do while talking to her cats. But scrapbooking can be fun and a great way to commemorate the most wonderful moments of your life thus far.
Try a colouring book for adults. Or just use one for children – I’m not here to judge. Either way, colouring between the lines can be extremely soothing and relaxing. I got a Vogue colouring book from my boyfriend’s mum and it’s absolutely gorgeous.
Get that leaky tap fixed. It might not be a leaky tap – it might be a broken light in the fridge, a flickering lightbulb or a wobbly table. Repair it yourself or get it seen to.
Back up your computer. Then backup your phone, and then backup your tablet while you’re at it. Can you backup a Kindle? If so, do it.
Clear space on your phone. My phone is constantly lacking in storage space. I’m not an app hoarder but I keep way too many photos and Spotify playlists on it. Whatever it is you do, do something about it.
Network. Nowadays you no longer need to leave the house to network. LinkedIn and even Facebook are great places to meet new potential clients, colleagues and employers. And how about emailing that friend of a friend who works at your dream company and asking them out to lunch?
Schedule your appointments. Call your doctor, dentist, hairdresser and the car salon for an oil change.
Listen to podcasts. There are so many wonderful podcasts out there to choose from. I used to listen to a Russian podcast everywhere – even in the shower! – while studying for my language exams and it really helped.
Drink a glass of water. Brain cells need a delicate balance between water and other elements to function, and when you’re dehydrated that balance is disrupted. So drink up!
Order new business cards. You can design your own on Canva for free, or use a pre-designed template. Make sure they reflect your personality and give off the right vibe.
Clean your desk. It’s difficult to get work done in a messy environment. File stray paper into a cute folder, arrange your pencils by colour and wash all those old tea cups.
Change out of your PJs. I know, I know. They’re comfy and make you feel like you’re in a beautiful cocoon of warmth. But looking good on the outside will make you feel more confident on the inside and might just be the extra push you need to be really productive today.
Do you have any favourite productive things to do in your PJs? If there’s anything you’d add to this list, let me know in the comments below – I’d love to hear it.
The post 100 Productive Things To Do In PJs! appeared first on Girl vs Globe.